Too many zeroes, too many questions

Here's a little Math 101 refresher I thought you might find enlightening:

One billion dollars is equal to 1,000 million dollars.

Ten billion dollars is equal to 10,000 million dollars.

One hundred billion dollars is equal to 100,000 million dollars.

Seven hundred billion dollars, the amount of money the U.S. government sought unsuccessfully to rescue our country's financial crisis, is equal to 700,000 MILLION dollars.

Now, let's do some division:

The United States' population in July was estimated at 304 million people. If you gave each person in the country an equal cut of the 700 billion dollars proposed in the Wall Street Bailout, every citizen would receive about $2,300.

For a family of four, that figure would be about $9,200. And that doesn't even take into account the interest, which our children's children and probably their children -- would have had to pay.

In the past few weeks, the government has taken over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Investment bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, insurance giant AIG (American International Group) received an emergency Federal Reserve loan, and investment bank Merrill Lynch merged with Bank of America.

Backers of the Wall Street Bailout argue that urgent, dramatic intervention is necessary to prevent further erosion of confidence in the U.S. credit markets and that failure to act could lead to a significant downturn in the economy.

Opponents objected to the massive cost of the plan and pointed to polls that showed little support among the public for bailing out Wall Street investment banks.

On Monday, 88 percent of 371 people participating in a poll on U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller's Web site opposed the federal government bailout. I voted 'No' on the Miller Web site, and thankfully the plan failed to pass the House hours later.

Why should we bail out the same people who got us into this mess?

Where was the assurance the plan would work?

Where was the oversight?

Where was the bailout for the millions of people whose homes are being foreclosed?

Where was your bailout? And mine? Too many questions, not enough answers.